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History of Cambria County, V.2

340 HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
    It is proper to record, and due to Col. Jackson to state, that I was near him when he was ordered to hold the hill at all hazards: I was with him on the slope of Little Round Top, and I was near to him when he gave the order to fix bayonets and charge, and I certainly would have seen any officer give him the order or heard it, if given in other way; therefore I am positive it was Colonel Jackson, and he alone, who determined the action of his regiment and it was the only possible way to hold the hill until re-enforcements came.
    Maj. Sloan maintains, with reliable testimony to sustain it, First, that Col. Jackson with the 11th Pennsylvania Reserves. and the artillery held that part of Little Round Top on the afternoon of Thursday, July 2, at the supreme crisis of the of the battle. Second, that Col. Jackson assumed the responsibility for directing the charge with 400 men. Third, that the 1st Brigade did not reach the wheat-field until after the 11th Pennsylvania Reserves occupied it. Fourth, that Gen. Crawford did not come up until after the 1st brigade, and then he publicly gave the credit to the 11th Regiment. Fifth, the facts cannot be successfully controverted.
    The monument in the Wheatfield bears the following inscription:

11th Pennsylvania Reserves
40th Infantry.
3d Brigade, 3d Division, 5th Corps.
    Mustered in May 9---July 5, 1861,
    Mustered out June 13, 1864.
    Recruited in Cambria, Indiana, Butler, Fayette, Arm-
        strong, Westmoreland and Jefferson counties.
    Present at Gettysburg 25 officers and 367 men.
    Killed        1 officer and 4 men
    Wounded  2   “          “ 33    “
Total enrollment 1200.
    Killed and died of wounds 11  officers and  185  men.
    Died of disease, etc. 1      "         " 113     "
    Wounded 18      "         " 260     "
    Captured or missing 31      "         " 727     "


61 1285
Total casualties 1346.
     Mechaniceville, Gaines' Mill, Glendale or New Market Cross Roads, Malvern Hill, Groveton, 2d Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, Rappahannock Station, Mine Run, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Totopotomoy, Bethesda Church.
July 2d in the evening charged from the hill in rear of this position and held it until the afternoon of July


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Created: 24 Mar 2003, Last Updated:
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Lynne Canterbury, Diann Olsen and contributors